The Vienna Philharmonic has announced the program for the 2026 New Year’s Concert, which will be conducted for the first time by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The Canadian conductor, currently Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal, joins a distinguished list of maestros who have led this world-famous Viennese celebration.
Vienna Philharmonic Chairman Daniel Froschauer underlined the importance of this new collaboration:
“Our partnership with Yannick Nézet-Séguin began in 2010 during the Mozart Week in Salzburg. Since then, we have built an intensive artistic relationship through numerous concerts in Vienna, Salzburg, and on tour. An unforgettable highlight was the 2023 Summer Night Concert under his musical direction. Together, we have curated a vibrant and multifaceted program featuring works by the Strauss dynasty, Carl Michael Ziehrer, Joseph Lanner, Franz von Suppè, Hans-Christian Lumbye, as well as Josephine Weinlich and Florence Price.”
This edition’s program includes five works being performed for the first time at a Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s Concert, among them pieces by Florence Price and Josephine Weinlich, alongside the traditional waltzes and polkas by Johann, Josef, and Eduard Strauß, and Joseph Lanner.
A Viennese tradition
Held every January 1st at the Musikverein, the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Concert is one of the most widely broadcast classical events in the world, reaching more than 90 countries. Since its inception in 1939, the concert has celebrated the Viennese musical heritage, especially the works of the Strauss family, whose waltzes, polkas, and marches symbolize the city’s musical spirit. Each year, the program combines well-known favorites such as The Blue Danube and Radetzky March with rediscovered or lesser-known pieces from the same era.
The 2026 concert, marking Nézet-Séguin’s debut in this tradition, will continue this blend of the familiar and the new — “ringing in the new year in true Viennese spirit,” as the orchestra stated.
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